Sibling Rivalry
by ijustliketowatch
Summary: AU Felicity and Megan Smoak are twins, but they aren't as similar as their appearance would suggest. Harboring a grudge over a boy in high school, Megan threatens to ruin Felicity's budding relationship with Oliver Queen.
1. Jake

This is based on a prompt from iloveyourintimate on Tumblr. It's rather detailed and I don't want to give the whole plot away by quoting it here, but here's the gist: "AU Felicity and Megan were born absolute twins and even their mother doesn't distinguish them sometimes. They are both very beautiful and way too smart and equally babble all the time. The only thing Felicity doesn't know is that her beloved twin sister hates her since finishing school because of some boy who fell in love with Felicity, not with Megan." Eventually, they meet Oliver and Tommy. And then, well, you'll just have to wait and see...

* * *

Felicity and Megan Smoak were born within two minutes of each other, but Felicity was born first and Megan felt like she had been playing catch-up ever since.

Though both sisters remained nearly identical physically even into adulthood–so much so that their mother dressed them in completely different wardrobes to keep them straight–their personalities couldn't have been more different. Where as an infant, Megan cried constantly and caused their mother to stay awake for hours each night trying to calm her, Felicity rarely made much of a fuss. That remained true as they grew. Felicity was a model student while Megan let her grades slip almost in defiance of her mother's pride over her sister's accomplishments. She was often called into the principal's office for truancy or some other infraction. Like the time she got suspended for getting caught kissing some boy behind the gym building when she should have been running around inside it.

By the time high school rolled around, few people mistook one sister for the other—not only because their mother's clothing conventions had translated into two girls with very different fashion senses. Megan had long ago switched to contacts and styled herself in edgier, less colorful looks than her almost obnoxiously sunny sister. Neither girl was terribly popular, yet each had their own sets of friends. Felicity was a quintessential nerd: smartest student in their year, spent her time outside the classroom tutoring fellow students, obsessed over anything with a hard drive and was prone to awkward rambling that reflected how fast her mind could move and baffled the uninitiated (the primary reason she was a valued if non-speaking member of the debate team. Megan was just on the edge of popular and decidedly rebellious: frequently spent her nights at parties thrown by listless friends long out of school, wasted more than one day breaking into unused homes to watch whatever boy she was currently dating skateboard in empty pools, picked up their mother's long held smoking habit despite her nagging, spent her spare time writing angsty poetry to brooding music and was prone to babbling that seemed less uncontrolled word vomit and more a semi-studied frankness that seemed a deliberate attempt to make others uncomfortable.

Still, despite their differences and their mother's maddening habit of comparing the two (typically in Felicity's favor), the relationship between the girls had never been particularly hostile—not that it had been particularly chummy either. Felicity and Megan were like any other sisters. They had their minor spats, but their relationship was mostly a live-and-let-live situation. The rift came thanks to one Jake Porter.

Unlike Felicity, Megan seemed almost allergic to any structure, especially if it involved school. Her one mother-accepted activity, however, was her involvement in their school's drama club. She loved the escapism of being someone else and was content to dance in the background even as she wished to be the in the spotlight. She never scored the lead in any of her high school plays, not of her own merit at least. But in their senior year, she lucked out when the girl meant to play Juliet to Jake's Romeo became ill and had to drop out. Megan, who was meant to play the much smaller though not insignificant role of Lady Capulet, was promoted to the lead and very quickly realized that she didn't need to do much acting. She was already enamored with her costar.

Though Megan and Jake hadn't had much cause to trade lines during rehearsals, offstage was a different story. He had, at first, mistaken her for Felicity, but once she corrected him, they became fast friends. They bonded over their hatred of Mrs. Bryant's Calculus class and a shared love of theater and performance during the tedious downtime that was an inevitable part of putting on a high school play.

Jake was not the kind of boy Megan usually went for. Well-behaved, a competent though unremarkable member of the track team and a good student only a few places below Felicity in the class standings—he was practically the antithesis of her former paramours. Yet that was precisely why she liked him. She had, unfortunately, inherited her mother's propensity for unreliable men and she liked Jake precisely because she knew he was trustworthy. She had chalked up the sparks she felt whenever they kissed while playing Shakespeare's star-crossed lovers as just part of their characters, but when the play ended just a few weeks before homecoming, she hoped that chemistry might translate into an invitation to the dance.

Which was why, when Felicity had beamed as she told her and their mother over dinner about being asked to the dance, Megan had been completely surprised.

"That's wonderful, honey. Who is he?" their mother had asked, leaning forward in interest.

"Jake Porter," Felicity had answered proudly.

"What?!" Megan had exclaimed at the same moment their mother had gasped and clapped with delight.

"Oh, he's dreamy," their mother had sighed. "He was your Romeo wasn't he, Megan."

"Yeah, Mom," she had said and waved a hand at her, as if shooing away a fly. She leaned forward across the table toward her sister and tried to ignore the feeling of bile rising in her throat. "How do you two even know each other," she had asked, struggling to keep her voice from betraying how upset she was.

"We're in English and History together," Felicity had explained. "We've actually been in a lot of classes together since freshman year."

"Oh, Felicity, I'm so happy for you," their mother had said and stood to hug her. "Maybe if your sister went to class, she would have a date too," she had added and eyed Megan, who was already too hurt to notice.

"Mom!" Felicity had exclaimed, "don't say that. I'm sure Megan will find someone to go with if she really wants to."

She, of course, hadn't and instead spent the remaining weeks growing more bitter as Felicity and Jake started dating and she was dragged along to endless fittings so their mother could find Felicity the perfect dress. She had, as an afterthought, offered to buy Megan a dress too, but by then, she had lost any desire she had once had to go.

Megan's long-simmering though unrealized resentment toward Felicity had come into full bloom then and steadily grew throughout the rest of the school year. Even the breakup between her sister and the former boy of her dreams–a "mature" decision they both made because of the distance college would put between them–gave her little comfort because it was so amicable. By the time her sister departed for MIT and she was preparing to start at UNLV in the fall, Megan was perfectly content with the prospect of never seeing her sister again. She succeeded in avoiding her over most of their college years, only meeting during the holidays when they were both home to visit their lonely mother.

Things became even easier after they graduated as Felicity moved to far off Starling City and Megan toiled away trying to find work as an actress or dancer in Las Vegas's numerous shows. She finally found mild success as part of the ensemble in a Broadway show touring through the city and followed it right out of Las Vegas to its final stop in Starling City. Instead of returning home, Megan decided to try her luck in the city's burgeoning theater scene and reluctantly asked her sister if she could live with her temporarily until she could afford her own place.

Felicity had welcomed her with open arms and told Megan to stay as long as needed or even to move in permanently if she wanted. With the optimism and bright-eyed obliviousness of someone for whom nothing has ever really gone wrong, Felicity had never noticed her sister's change in attitude and the fact irked Megan more than open hostility would have. Still, her sister's enthusiasm was infectious and without the toxic influence of their mother, Megan decided to try to repair their relationship—if only to make living together easier.

But then they met Oliver Queen.

* * *

Thanks for reading and please leave some feedback. While Megan is technically supposed to be the villain of this piece, I can't guarantee you won't grow to root for her a bit. I have always loved femme fatales.


	2. Oliver

Before we get started, I just want to address this idea of Megan as villain that many of you have expressed. That's not really my intention. The point of this fic, for me, is about contrasting two women. On one hand there's the Felicity we all know and love and on the other is her somewhat black sheep sister who doesn't quite have everything figured out. But I'm not really trying to criticize her for that. Her feelings, while perhaps misdirected, are valid in her mind. For whatever reason, female characters who are a little cruel and conniving aren't afforded the same allowances as equivalent male characters. If this fic were about Loki from the MCU, I wouldn't even need to write this. So please, feel free to disagree with her pettiness and meanness, but maybe also try to understand her insecurities and eventually, her more questionable actions.

* * *

It was at Megan's suggestion that they were at Verdant that night, the popular club co-owned by rich playboys Oliver Queen and Tommy Merlyn. She had had a rough day and needed to have some fun to take her mind off the audition she wen to earlier in the day. She had wanted to play Lorelei Lee in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes ever since she first heard "Diamond's are Girl's Best Friend" and she finally had a chance. She had been dying her hair blonde in hopeful, perhaps delusional preparation for years and had resented when Felicity had dyed it that color too because she liked it so much. The audition had gone well and she left feeling fairly confident, but she could scarcely sit still she was so desperate to hear if she had gotten the part.

Megan would have been perfectly content to go to the club alone, melting into the anonymous, sexually-charged swaying of the dance floor, but she really did want to make a better effort to connect with Felicity. She knew it wasn't quite her awkward, IT girl sister's scene, but Felicity had always been very convincible when it came to making sure someone else was happy. And her intentions weren't entirely friendly. She looked forward to the perverse pleasure she would take in how uncomfortable her sister would be in the space. She had almost laughed when Felicity had walked out of her room wearing the nice but too-sophisticated red, knee-length dress. Megan had opted for less fabric: a tank and a pair of silver shorts that showed off her legs only slightly better than the sky-high heels that accompanied them. Short in stature though the Smoak sisters were, their mother had instilled in them that a good set of legs shown off correctly could go a long way.

They had separated almost from the moment they walked in. Felicity was content to stay at the bar and watch their things while Megan went off to dance. Megan was out on the floor, smiling to herself after spotting her sister talking animatedly at a brunette in an expensive-looking suit who she guessed was handsome based on Felicity's face, when she was distracted by her own guy in a nice suit. Hers, however, was taller with short, dirty blonde hair and a roguish smile. She recognized him immediately as Oliver Queen, though he was far handsomer in person than even the numerous tabloid photos had led her to believe. He paused a moment, outstretched his hands and raised an eyebrow at her, silently asking her to dance and she returned his smile and nodded, trying to appear coy rather than mildly starstruck. She wrapped her arms around his neck the same moment his hands landed on her hips.

"Hi," he said as they began to move together.

"Hey," she said in return.

They didn't speak after that initial greeting, letting their bodies do the talking. As the beat pulsed around them, they swayed together and Megan privately marveled at her luck. She had hoped to find an attractive guy who would help her dance her cares away, but this was better than expected. Oliver Queen could move–well–and she couldn't help but imagine if it would translate into an equally strong connection under more intimate circumstances. It wasn't difficult to imagine as she stared into his piercing blue eyes, one corner of his mouth upturned in a smug little smirk that made her wonder if he was following the same train of thought. She decided to test the theory. With a smile equally smug, she dropped her arms and turned, leaning back into him. She knew from the way he grunted in her ear when she pressed her ass to his crotch and the way his fingers dug into her hips that she was right.

They continued to dance, the likelihood of this ending in a bedroom growing with every movement of her hips and Megan thought that's what was about to happen when Queen leaned down and his lips brushed against her ear.

Instead, he asked, "want to get a drink?" She nodded and grabbed his hand, leading him to the bar, a few feet away from where Felicity still stood talking with that same brunette.

The bartender came directly over upon seeing his boss and Megan couldn't miss the way Queen puffed out his chest in pride at feeling so important.

"The usual for me," he said over the noise and then turned to her, "and whatever the lady wants."

"Manhattan," she said. The bartender nodded and then tilted his head, narrowing his eyes at her. She was about to ask why when she saw him glance down the bar and his eyes widened slightly when he saw Felicity. He turned back to look at her again and then gave Queen a lascivious grin. His forehead crinkled in confusion and he turned to see what could have caused the bartender's reaction. He too did a double take when he spotted Felicity, turning between her and Megan a moment before he finally spoke.

"Do you have a sister?" he asked, like he was going crazy.

"My twin," Megan replied nodding her head in Felicity's direction. His eyebrows shot up in surprise and the corner of his mouth turned up in a smile.

Megan had seen that look before, the typical horny interest of most men upon discovering that there was in fact a second version of the woman they were flirting with. She suspected the prospect was especially enticing for him considering what she had read about his scandalous affair with the Lance or Vance or whatever sisters in the tabloids a few months back. Something about the revelation that he was cheating on one with the other leading to hurt feelings and public breakdowns. Still, she was surprised he didn't ask to meet Felicity right away. More than one man had. He glanced at her one last time and was about to turn to give Megan his full attention when he whipped back around and narrowed his eyes.

"What?" Megan asked. He didn't reply, instead grabbing her hand and dragging her in the direction of her sister. So much for restraint.

"Tommy?" he yelled over the sound of the club. The well-dressed brunette talking to Felicity turned to look at him and did the same double-take Oliver had done a few moments ago.

"I think I may have had more to drink than I realized," he said as they approached. "Are you over there too?" he asked Felicity, pointing at Megan.

"I can't attest to your level of inebriation," Felicity started, Megan cringing at her wordiness, "but there are two of us. We're twins. Tommy, meet Megan. Megan, Tommy Merlyn."

"A pleasure," he said, sticking out his hand for Megan to shake. She dropped Oliver's and took the other man's, noticing that it wasn't as strong. Which seemed fitting considering he was shorter and less smolderingly sexy too, even if he had a certain charm.

"Oliver Queen," the man in question said from her side, sticking his hand out for Felicity to shake. She reached out and placed her hand in his, looking somewhat bashful and Megan saw him smile at her reaction.

"Felicity Smoak," she replied, slightly breathless in that halting way that always happened when she was nervous.

"So, Megan," Tommy started, "are you in IT at Oliver's parents' company too?"

"Nope," she replied, seeing the way Oliver's eyebrows shot up and he looked expectantly at Felicity. "I'm an actress," she said proudly, hoping to draw all attention back to her.

"Really?" Tommy said. "Anything I would have seen you in?"

"Probably not," she admitted, "but I just moved out here," she added, recovering quickly. "I was doing theater in Vegas and got a part in Anything Goes while it was traveling through. We just closed up here and I decided to stay."

"I saw that," Tommy said excitedly. "Had to take his sister because this one barely has the attention span to sit through a movie, let alone a play," he said, jabbing a thumb at Oliver. "Who were you? I don't remember seeing you."

"I don't know how you missed her," Felicity piped in. "She was the best dancer in the group, way better than the lead girl," she said proudly. "Better singer too, not that they gave her a chance to show it." Megan smiled politely at the compliment, but was annoyed that Felicity had broken her successful actress façade.

"Well, consider me chastened," Tommy joked, bowing his head, "next time I go to one of your plays, I'll look at only you," he added, giving her a wink.

"So how long have you been working at QC?" Oliver asked, leaning on the bar toward Felicity. "I don't think I've ever seen you."

"Oh, you probably wouldn't have," she replied, blushing. "They keep me down in the basement with the servers. I've only been up to executive floors once. To fix your Dad's computer, actually, a few weeks before he—" Her hand flew up to cover her mouth and her eyes widened when she saw his stricken expression. "Oh, God, I'm so..." she paused, collecting her thoughts. "I was really sorry to hear about your Dad," she offered. "He was really nice when I met him even though he was clearly freaking out because the annual board meeting was going to start in an hour. Not all of the higher ups bother to be polite. Not that I'm complaining!" she half-yelled, waving her hands in front of her as if she could stop the inevitable ramble. "I love my job and the company, of course. I was a little worried about your mother taking over, but she's been doing an incredible job keeping QC stock from taking too much of a hit. Which makes sense considering how scary she is. I mean, not in a bad—"

Felicity was finally, blessedly, cut off by a chuckle from Oliver.

"She can be pretty scary," he admitted, tilting his head and smiling at her, utterly beguiled.

Megan didn't like that.

"Well, we should probably get going," she said loudly, grabbing her sister's arm. "I've had a long day and this one has work in the morning." Felicity stood, looking slightly dazed but didn't argue. "It was nice meeting you both," Megan said to Oliver and Tommy, who looked surprised and disappointed, respectively. Merlyn reached out and blocked their way.

"You guys'll come back sometime though, right?" he asked hopefully.

"Maybe," she replied, biting her bottom lip and smiling up at him through her eyelashes. "But just in case," she continued, "here's my number." She leaned back toward the bar and snatched the pen out of the hand of a guy who was signing his bar tab.

"Hey!" he yelped, but she ignored him as she wrote her number on a napkin. She returned to the pen to the guy (who muttered a sarcastic "thanks") and handed the napkin to Oliver. She stared into his eyes a moment before grabbing Felicity's arm again and leading her toward the door, her sister only able to wave her goodbye at Oliver and Tommy as they retreated.

"Sorry to drag you out of there," Megan said, feigning an apologetic tone, as they finally stepped into the cool night air. "I dragged you out in the first place and I just realized how late it was. Sorry to keep you out so late."

"No, it's fine," Felicity replied. "I hadn't noticed the time either. I had fun though."

"I bet," Megan said conspiratorially, though she didn't quite feel it. "You were talking to Tommy Merlyn for a long time."

Felicity blushed and smiled, trying to hide it as she dug through her purse for her car keys. "He was nice," she admitted in a small voice. "Really funny too. You and Oliver Queen looked like you were getting along pretty well too," she added as they climbed into the car.

"Yeah we did," Megan said, pretending to swoon. "He's such a good dancer. And that body. I would climb him like a tree."

"Megan!" Felicity exclaimed and smacked her on the arm, laughing anyway. "He was nicer than I expected, but I guess he hasn't been in the tabloids since what happened with his dad so maybe this have changed."

"What happened?"

"Oh, right, forgot you're new to the Starling City gossip scene. Robert died six months ago," she explained, looking sad. "Boating accident. Really shocking. Moira Queen took over the company and Oliver's had to take on a bigger role too."

"Tragic," Megan said with a shake of her head. "Well, I know what'll make him feel better."

"What?" Felicity asked as she started her car.

"Calling me," Megan replied.

"You are ridiculous," she said with a roll of her eyes.

Except Oliver Queen never called her.

Instead, Megan received a call two days later from Tommy Merlyn.

She picked up the unrecognized number expecting to hear about the audition from the day before, but secretly hoped it was from Oliver Queen.

"Hello?" she said brightly.

"Hey, is this Megan?" said a man's voice through the earpiece.

"Speaking," she said, trying not to let her excitement bleed into her tone.

"Hi, this is Tommy Merlyn," he said confidently, "we met at my club the other night."

"Oh, hi," she breathed, confused.

"I hope you don't mind. I took your number from Oliver," he explained.

"No, it's just, it's a bit of a surprise to hear from you," she admitted, still off balance.

"A good one, I hope."

"Of course," she lied.

"Great," he said and she could hear the smile in his voice. "Well, I really enjoyed talking with you the other night and I was wondering if you'd like to have dinner with me sometime? Tomorrow maybe?"

"Um, tomorrow doesn't work," she said, though it was totally free. "Monday maybe?" she suggested, fully planning on canceling later.

"Monday works for me," he said excitedly. "I'll text you with details."

"OK."

"Awesome. See you Monday," he said and hung up.

Megan took her phone from her ear and stared at it a moment.

"Huh," she huffed, unsure how to feel.

On the one hand, she could do worse than to catch Tommy Merlyn's attention. He's rich and handsome and admittedly quite charming. But she had seen Oliver Queen first. He was equally rich and handsome and moreover, she thought she had felt a connection between them. She was just beginning to question why he wouldn't have wanted to see her when her phone rang again. She didn't recognize the number of this caller either and took a moment to steady herself before she picked up.

That time, it was about her audition and the news wasn't good: she hadn't gotten the part and they didn't even want her for the ensemble. Megan was so upset, she could barely get through her next audition and left knowing she had botched it. She went home, feeling low and hoping to spend the rest of the night sitting in front of the television and eating a whole pint of the chocolatiest flavor of ice cream she could find. She arrived home with frozen treat in hand to find Felicity already in the process of making diner.

"Hey, hear back about Gentlemen yet?" she asked.

"I didn't get it," Megan said dejectedly.

"Oh, Meg," Felicity said and turned to look at her. "I'm so sorry," she added and went over to hug her. They had never been particularly affectionate and Megan didn't like being pitied, but she accepted the hug anyway. Even she could admit she sort of needed it. Felicity pulled away after a moment and then returned to her cooking. "How'd today's go by the way?" she asked.

"Not great," Megan admitted, taking her ice cream out of the grocery bag and walking over to get a spoon. Screw waiting. "I got the call right before I went in. Kinda threw me off my game."

"Ugh, that's awful," Felicity replied.

"Yeah," Megan said. "Oh and I got another call right before that," she added, suddenly remembering. She paused, poised to gauge her sister's reaction. "From Tommy Merlyn," she finally added. Felicity froze and turned with her eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Really?" she asked. "What did he want?"

"He asked me out on a date," she replied. Felicity's eyebrows shot up even further.

"Did you say 'yes'?" she asked, sounding a little guarded.

"Yeah, we're having dinner Monday," she said casually. Much as Megan was trying to be nicer to her sister, she couldn't stop herself from wanting to spread her misery around and maybe even to give Felicity a taste of what she had felt in high school all those years ago.

"Huh," Felicity huffed.

"You don't mind do you?" Megan said sweetly. "I know you really liked talking to him."

"No, of course not," Felicity said earnestly, and Megan believed it. "He's a nice guy. I'm excited for you. It's just...kind of a weird coincidence."

"What do you mean?" Megan asked, tilting her head and furrowing her brow.

"Well, Oliver Queen came into my office today," she said.

"What?" Megan asked, feeling a pit form in her stomach. "Why?"

"He came in to get his laptop fixed," she explained. "I thought it was kind of weird he asked for me. I mean, I stick mostly to programming rather than tech support unless something is really bad. Not that this wasn't pretty bad. I swear it was like he poured a whole latte on that thing or something. I could barely salvage it."

"Did he ask you out too?" Megan asked, voice tight.

"No," Felicity said and blushed. "He was a little flirty though, I guess. But he's kind of got a reputation for that around the office. But, then again, it did seem kind of improbable that he could 'accidentally' damage his computer that badly. I still can't imagine him risking losing all his files just to have an excuse to come down to the IT Department. Though there didn't seem to be many important files on the hard drive now that I think about it. Not that I looked, but it's inevitable you have to open a few. And I guess he could easily afford a new laptop—" Felicity was cut off by the sound of Megan dropping her spoon into the sink, the half-eaten ice cream abandoned on the table.

"I'm not feeling so well," she grumbled. "I'm going to skip dinner."

"Alright," Felicity replied, sounding worried. "Are you going to be OK?" she yelled after Megan's retreating figure.

"I'll be fine," she yelled back, barely controlling the shakiness in her voice. She ran up the stairs to her room and slammed the door.

As if her day hadn't been bad enough. It was like she was right back in high school again, watching her sister take the guy she wanted. _She_ had been the one to see Oliver Queen first. _She_ was the one who pursued him. Why couldn't it be her for once? It wasn't fair. Everything she had to fight and scrape to get, Felicity was given without the least amount of effort. She was tired of it. She was done playing second fiddle to her sister.

Megan abandoned any attempt to repair her relationship with Felicity from then on.

* * *

Thanks for reading and please leave a review. It would make my day.


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